Last year for Christmas my husband spoilt me with a couple of vouchers for Foodish Cooking School. Firstly, let me point out that this was not a subtle hint at the quality of my cooking, but rather a sweet gesture that accommodated my love of cooking. For years I have collected cookbooks, subscribed to cooking magazines, watched a range of cooking shows on TV, and talked about doing some cooking classes; last Monday night I got that opportunity. My husband and I signed up to the Italian Masterclass where we were to cook Risotto alla Milanese and Osso Buco. We were greeted upon arrival by Alaine and Mary, our instructors for the evening, and offered some wine and cheese while we waited for everyone to turn up. There were six of us in the class, surprisingly mostly men, and after watching Alaine demonstrate the first few techniques, we separated into two groups to make a start.

We were constantly under the watchful eye of Alaine and once we all had reached certain sections of the recipe we were brought together to observe the next few steps. The final step of the Osso Buco was to let it simmer for a number of hours – we started the process whilst we poured ourselves more wine and sat down to enjoy a completed dish together that Alaine had prepared earlier and at the end of the night we took our own dishes home. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening... in fact I was too busy and having too much fun to even think of taking photos!

Foodish is located at the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets and provides opportunities to develop creative cooking skills in a fun and stimulating group environment. The philosophy behind the classes highlights the importance of food and the role it plays in our day to day relationships. The idea is to learn not only about food and the techniques of preparation and presentation, but also about ourselves and how we interact with others.

A wide variety of classes and workshops are on offer each year. At present there is Autumn and Winter Masterclasses, a Pastry Workshop, Truffle Magic Cooking Classes, a series of Pressure-Cooking Classes, a Curry Series and Kids lessons on offer.